Electrolux Washer E57 in Dunedin: Won't Start a Cycle, Failed Inverter Board

The owner of this Electrolux front-load washer in the Fairway Estates neighborhood of Dunedin called because it wouldn’t start a cycle. The washer is model EFLS527UIW, about 8 years old, and lives in the garage.

E57, twice

The washer was holding an E57 error. Just in case it was a one-time glitch, we cleared it and ran the washer through its test mode. The tech sheet tucked inside the machine shows how to get in and which test runs what.

E57 came right back.

Ruling out the motor

E57 is usually the inverter, the board that powers the drive motor and controls its speed. Sometimes, though, the motor itself is behind it, and you don’t want to sell someone a board when the motor’s the real problem. So we checked the motor first.

The drum turned freely, so nothing was jamming it. We measured resistance between the motor windings, and the readings were normal. Then we checked that no winding was shorted to the motor frame. That was fine too.

With a good motor and E57 still there, that left the inverter board.

Why garage washers lose inverters

We find failed inverters most often on washers that sit in a garage. It gets hot out there in Florida, and the inverter doesn’t get cooled enough. This one also had dry leaves collected around the board.

The washer needed a new inverter. Since it was already about 8 years old, the client decided to put the money toward a new washer, which was a reasonable call. If your washer shows an error code and you’d like an honest answer on whether it’s worth fixing, our washer repair page has more on what we do. For the test mode steps on these Electrolux washers, see our E11 water valve story.